


I’ll never be the same (If we ever meet again)

by jyusan



Category: Glee
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-05
Updated: 2012-05-05
Packaged: 2017-11-04 21:12:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/398253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jyusan/pseuds/jyusan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Plays after the school elections.<br/>After another blow to his self esteem, Kurt decides to go back to the gay bar and forget about all the heavy things in his mind and the failure of his senior year. When someone tries to take advantage of him, an unlikely savior appears.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I’ll never be the same (If we ever meet again)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Shana @ [singingmisfits](http://singingmisfits.livejournal.com) for the Secret Santa. I found it on my computer today and decided to post it.

Kurt doesn’t know what he is doing here at this bar of all places, but he was feeling reckless and careless earlier that night, desperate to find something, anything to occupy his mind. It’s about something Blaine said, or not said – he is not sure anymore, all he knows is that he reached a tipping point. He is quietly sloshing the drink in his hand around – he doesn’t know what it is, the guy sitting next to him got it for him and he knows this is the most irresponsible he has ever been in his life but he can’t find it in himself to care. Not anymore, not after losing the main role in the school musical, not after losing the senior election he poured his heart into, not after sitting through another day listening to Blaine whining about how he only gets to sing one verse of Man In The Mirror when really it would work so wonderfully as an a capella. Kurt doesn’t sing in the song and he wonders when he gave up fighting for solos and started fighting for his boyfriend’s attention against crazy spoiled prats of Dalton Gaycademy instead.

He doesn’t resist when the guy next to him puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder and somewhere far in his brain a boy in football uniform dancing to Single Ladies is shaking his head at how he clings to the completely misguided attention in his emotionally deprived state. But the next he knows, he is getting pushed up against the bathroom wall and the knowledge of his clothes brushing against dirty tiles sends a fresh wave of self awareness through his body.

“Lemme go” he says, pushing idly at the body in front of him and the other men just chuckles. Kurt feels sick to his stomach and it’s not from the drinks, it’s from the realization of what a humiliating situation he has managed to get himself into and he tries his best not to cry, clinging to the last moments of his dignity and snaring some random offense at his attacker.

Suddenly the man is off him, sent backwards thanks to a punch in his face, and there is some shouting and general shoving as Kurt is trying to focus on the figure with his back to him, then his attacker is walking out and his savior turns back. It’s Karofsky, Kurt recognizes him instantly, from his hunched shoulders to his furrowed brows and his face red in anger. A logical part of his brain knows that the anger this time is not directed at him, but the sight of his face sends a trigger reaction of fright much greater than before through him. It must show on his face, because Karofsky’s face falls and he suddenly looks like he is the one who got punched in the face.

“Are you okay?” Dave asks quietly, and it’s the uncharacteristic timid way he does so is what breaks Kurt out of his frozen state.

“Yes.. I guess. Thank you” Kurt answers and feels himself blushing slightly, embarrassed about his state and the entire situation. He realizes he is slumped against the wall and stands up straighter, brushing off some imaginary dust from his pants. 

They stand around, awkwardly for a while, neither knowing what to say. 

“So, uhm, you came alone this time?” Dave asks after a while, because his mind is full of the image of the other boy staring up at him with wide and scared eyes, and it sends flushes of hatred and self disgust through his mind he is not ready to deal with on a Friday night in the bathroom of a gay bar.

“Yeah…” Kurt answers, and there is something distant and sad in his eyes as he says so which makes Dave want to ask all kinds of questions he shouldn’t be interested in asking. 

“Can I invite you for a drink, as a way to thank you for saving me?” he finishes, looking up with a more collected smile.

“I won’t say no to that” Dave answers with a small upward tug of his lips and he silently rejoices when Kurt’s smile becomes more honest around the edges.

They make their way back to the bar through the crowd, and Kurt makes sure to walk with even steps and without glancing at anyone else (that one person) in the room. Their drinks come soon and they’re quietly sipping them for a while. Dave is observing the boy next to him, from the tired drop of his eyelids to his uncharacteristically inelegant slump on the chair and finds his mind flooded with questions. The sight of Kurt Hummel so lost and unguarded makes him feel closer, not like the mature and strong person Dave has silently grown to idolize and admire from afar, and it makes him feel both eager to reach out and somewhat sad at having to see him like that and he can’t imagine what could have happened to make him look so.

“What is it?” Kurt asks when he catches his eyes, his brows furrowing in a familiar way that, strangely enough, makes Karofsky feel more comfortable, so after swallowing a bit of his drink he decides to be bold.

“Just wondering what pushed you into… this” he says and vaguely gestures at the way Kurt is heavily leaning against the table. They both know it’s not his business and he shouldn’t probe, but Kurt chuckles lightly and shakes his head.

“I’m not sure… was trying to find it out… not the best place for it, is it?” he says with a forced smile and something in Dave’s chest clenches at the sight of this boy fighting so hard to find strength even in this rare moment of desperation. To be able to witness it makes him feel both strangely touched and ashamed for intruding on the moment. From what he knows of Kurt he is sure he wouldn’t want to be seen like this, especially not by him, no matter how hard that admission is. 

“Yeah, probably not… next time try the, I don’t know, Church maybe?” Dave answers to which Kurt starts laughing, loud and ringing and strangely musical in the smoke filled rundown bar. Dave doesn’t know whether what he said is right or wrong, but finds himself strangely enraptured by Hummel’s voice to care at all.

“Haha, maybe” Kurt says after calming down from his drunken joy, but Dave is too busy glaring at random guys whose heads perked up when they heard Kurt’s laughter. It’s something he does out of reflex and will gladly blame on the alcohol later on.  
They start properly talking after that, as if the ice finally got broken. It’s nothing deep, Dave feels that the issues Kurt talks about are not the main ones that our troubling him but he doesn’t push and just enjoys this strange new comfortableness between them. Soon enough he finds himself talking about his life and football, unconsciously picking out stories which would make Kurt smile in a way that crinkles his eyes.

And then suddenly it’s late, maybe two or three AM, and Dave can’t remember where the time has flown by. Kurt gets up from the chair, claiming he has to go home but he sways out a bit, and Dave reaches out instinctively to steady him. There is that slight flash of scare in Kurt’s eyes again at the touch but it’s gone soon – soon enough for them to not talk about it, but not quite fast enough for Dave not to remember and dwell on it later.

He insists on walking Kurt home, because he drunk considerably less and the image of the big bearded guy cornering on Kurt is still fresh and unsettling in his mind. They’re quite on their way back, as if the closer they get the more Kurt becomes aware of the night and his decisions. When they reach the main door to the small house, he turns towards Dave.

His eyes are full of honest gratitude as he says “Thank you” before getting inside, emphasizing in a way that seems to mean much more than just walking him home or saving him from molesters. It’s that sight of Kurt, standing tall, looking proud and determined despite his flushed state that Dave brings home with himself, cherishing it like an image in his back pocket and taking it out time and time again, slowly erasing the years of guilt and helping something small and strong growing in his chest with it.


End file.
